Funding, repairs breathe new life into Boughton Street YMCA

DANBURY - With more than $100,000 in repairs in the bag and a half a million dollars more on the way, things are looking up at the Boughton Street YMCA.

Now officials just have to figure out how to get more bodies through the door.
There are about 900 memberships at the

Boughton Street Y. Membership
needs to jump to between 1,700 and 2,000 to keep the place viable for years to come.
The people who run the Boughton Street Y do not expect that to happen overnight. However, 2006 will see them spread a new message: Come see how things have changed at the Boughton Street YMCA.
"If you've left, come back. Come try us out. We have room for growth here. We've got great things going on," said
Greg Dembowski
, the capital campaign director for the Regional YMCA of Western Connecticut.
In January, the Regional Y announced Boughton Street was closing due to a $250,000 annual operating loss and dwindling membership.
A huge number of much-needed building repairs, ranging from a broken boiler to a leaky roof, was another nail in the coffin for the community center, which had a weight room, a swimming pool and a gymnasium.
As soon as the announcement was made, long-time members started pressuring Regional YMCA leaders and Mayor

Mark Boughton
to find a way to keep the place going.
The mayor and the
Common Council
stepped up by contributing more than $100,000 to help ease Boughton Street's operating loss. A volunteer task force began soliciting private donations. Then a number of corporate grants came through, including a $100,000 donation from Praxair, a Danbury company.
Suddenly, things weren't so bleak for Boughton Street.
"I was hoping it would turn around, but it was a real gamble. Now there is a real sense of excitement," said

Christine Abbott
, the Boughton Street Y branch director.
This year saw the roof repaired, the boiler replaced, some new equipment in the workout room - plus a $75,000 chair lift for the pool.
The chair lift may sound ho-hum, but Dembowski said it was a key request from the club's senior citizens, some of whom were having trouble getting in and out of the swimming pool.
The biggest shot in the arm came just this month, in the form of a $500,000 grant from the state. The money has not arrived yet - it still has to clear the state's bond commission - but when it does it will be used to renovate locker rooms, replace the gym floor and to renovate and expand the weight room, which will be stocked with new equipment.
"It will make the Y into a state-of-the-art facility," Abbott said.
The hope is the repairs - essentially a makeover of the entire Y - will help attract more members, starting with about 300 people who left the Y in 2005 when it was expected to close.
To help spread the message, the Regional YMCA created a new position. As of three weeks ago,

Paula Jackson
, a veteran public relations person for Yankee Gas, became the Regional Y's community awareness director.
Jackson will organize press releases, newspaper, radio and television spots to publicize the Y.
"My goal is to get the news out there about all the wonderful things happening at the Y," Jackson said.
January holds two crucial events for the Y.
First, the Boughton Street Y will play host to "Family Night" on Friday, Jan. 13, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Families can come, free of charge, and sample everything from karate to water aerobics.
Second, the annual Mayor's Ball is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 28 at the Amber Room Colonnade.
The event is $125 per person. Part of the proceeds will go to the Boughton Street Y.
Information for the event can be obtained by calling
Elisa Munoz
in the mayor's office at (203) 797-4511.